Is there anybody that has actually read a "holy book" completely? Not just a piece here and a piece there, but actually read The Christian Bible (any of the numerous versions), the Qur'an, The Satanic Bible, the Vedas or Bhagavad Gita or other Hindu text, or the Tanakh from cover to cover?

I've got one of those checked off of my list.

In Sunday school and church,, as a child, I did read the Bible , front to back


but I do plan to get back to reading it in full again,, my toddler has kept me busy and unable to focus,, but thats no excuse

thanks for putting it back at the top of my list

Christian bible cover to cover at least three times. Highlighted sections in the last reading.


I've also read the Tao Teh Ching, but only once.

I never sat down with the intent to read the Bible clear through from beginning to end. But over the course of my life I'm pretty sure that I've read most of it, and much of it many times over, along with a myriad of "interpretations" by other people.

My conclusions are really quite simple.

1. You can make the stories mean just about anything you want.

2. If you genuinely have an open mind you can even see that it is basically impossible to make any specific interpretation stand up against even your very own scrutiny (assuming you can be honest enough with yourself)

I've never read the Veda in it's entirety for sure. But I've certainly read a lot excepts from it and even took classes on it.

Buddhism itself doesn't actually have a single book that I'm aware of, but I have taken quite in-depth courses on the history and interpretations of Buddhism. I personaly like Tantric Buddhism the best.

I've also read the Tao Teh Ching, or at least several translations of it. I think the original was actually written in a pictorial language so any Tao Teh Ching that you can actually read is necessarily already an interpretation of the original pictoral language.

I've studied various Celtic religions, they don't actually have a single "Bible" you can read. The best you can do is try to piece together various historical accounts many of which are hard to know whether they describe real events or pure mythology.

I've read the Faery Teachings. Many people might not realize that this is actually a serious religion. But like the Cetic religions it's more of a collection of historical acedotes. So you need to put a lot of trust in the authors who claim to know what they're talking about.

Currently I'm reading up on the Qabalah, as well as the Kabalah. That's not just two different spellings of the word. One has more of a Celtic or Pagan tradition, the other has more to do with the Hebrew magi (i.e. Jews), only not necessarily Judaism. Although this was from a period so early in history it's hard to say who those "Hebrews" actually were!

I also read a lot of Greek mythology. Those tales were considered to be quite serious religion to the people who originally told them. Of course I don't take them literally, but I still see value in the human interest aspects that they have to offer.

I think everyone should take a look around at all religious and philosophical material. To bury your head in one book is to truly close your mind off to all other possibilities.

I've read the current Bible several times and in a couple of different versions. The Koran, the Book of Mormon, once. Gnostic Bible, once, and a couple versions of the Apocrypha books as well. The Bhagavad-Gita once, totally, and flip in and out of it. I have a long version and short version of it. The Satanic Bible several times. The Tao Te Ching gets read several times a year, as that's one of my favorite books. I'm working my way through the Popol Vuh. I've read bits and pieces of the various Vedas. I've read many books on Shamanism, Wicca, Druidism, etc, as I enjoy it. Many, many of my books are penciled on, and have little post-it notes for specific information and fast access.

i've read a fair bit of them...

Yup, read the Christian bible, the qu'ran, the works of primary founders of the wiccan/neopagan views like the works of alestair crowley and alexander gardner, the triptaka, the collective works of many regional mythos which were considered valid religions at points in time(i.e. greek mythos, persian mythos, several native american tribe mythos, roman mythos) and have been reincarnated in deity worship in several sects of neopaganism, the works of l. ron hubbard, and currently working on the tao-te-ching.

I have read thye Scriptures several times. Reading alot about the Persian history now and what they have written about the Israelites. Takes way more than just reading to get a grasp about what is being said in the Scriptures, Persion history is more straight foward being it is documented with less bias. More just showing u and not alot of comentary to guide u in a certain way.. Shalom...Miles